Elon hires former standout Shaylen Burnett as assistant coach

Elon women’s basketball did more than fill a staff opening when it brought Shaylen Burnett back to campus. By naming one of the program’s most decorated former players as director of player development and video and an assistant coach, the Phoenix signaled that Charlotte Smith wants a familiar voice helping steer the program’s next stretch. Smith, who has led Elon’s women’s team since 2011, announced the change for the 2026-27 season on May 28, and Burnett is already listed in the university directory in the role.

Burnett’s return carries unusual weight because her playing résumé is tied directly to the rise of Elon women’s basketball. Shaylen Briana Burnett graduated from Elon with a degree in Sport and Event Management and a minor in Criminal Justice, and she was born Jan. 24, 1996. On the court, Elon described her as a first-team All-CAA selection in 2016-17, when the Phoenix went 27-7, won both the CAA regular season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time at the Division I level.

Her name is woven through some of the program’s defining moments. Elon fell to West Virginia 75-62 in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament on March 17, 2017, but Burnett was part of the group that got the Phoenix there. She later helped Elon win the CAA tournament again in 2018, including a 57-45 victory over Drexel on March 10, 2018. Burnett also produced landmark individual performances, recording Elon’s first triple-double in school history against Coker on Nov. 27, 2017, and another triple-double on March 1, 2018 that Elon identified as the second in program history. She added first-team North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association All-State honors in 2018.

For Elon, that history matters because player development jobs are about more than film sessions and practice plans. A former standout like Burnett arrives with institutional memory, a clear understanding of Smith’s expectations and credibility with current players who know what it takes to win in Schar Center. That can matter in recruiting, too, especially for prospects weighing a program that has built its identity on internal development and continuity.

The move also fits Elon’s place in Alamance County’s college sports landscape. Phoenix basketball reaches beyond campus, from Alumni Gym’s past to Schar Center’s present, and Burnett’s return gives the program another public link to its most successful modern era. For a team looking to build forward, the hire looks less like nostalgia than a strategic bet on someone who already knows where Elon has been and what it takes to get back there.